For Science!
by GreyInnocence
Summary: Doctor Hanai and Professor Nishihiro just wanted to get off this research base, but now that their test subject might not be what they were told, they aren't the only ones that need to leave. Written for the Kink Meme, HanaNishiTaji, AbeMiha, HamaIzuMizu.
1. Hypothesis

A/N: Hola! I, the wonderful and magnificent Miss Scarlet, have decided to post the first chapter of Katie's and my latest foray into the Oofuri Kink Meme. I do hope you all enjoy~!

Chapter 1: Hypothesis

"Don't you get sick of those things?" Hanai asked as he came into the kitchen.

Nishihiro lifted the half-peeled banana in question.

"Yeah, those."

"Not really. Do you get sick of protein shakes?"

"Yes."

Nishihiro shrugged at his roommate. "How do you think Abe-kun did with Mihashi last night?"

"You tell me. You're the one whose room backs his, and don't name them. You'll get attached, like Akimaru did with Haruna."

By the time the roommates left their apartment Abe was sleepily locking his door at the apartment over.

"Hey, Abe."

Abe grunted.

"Have you heard anything about Akimaru-kun yet?" Nishihiro smiled at his obviously tired associate.

Abe shrugged. "Just that he won't be out of the hospital for a while."

"It's too bad Haruna was so stubborn. He would have been successful otherwise." Nishihiro sighed.

"I guess. At least Mizutani and Izumi can take orders." He yawned.

"Did you ever get him to settle down last night?" Hanai avoided using the male's name.

Abe shook his head. "The guy's a spaz. Couldn't get him to quit blubbering for more than two minutes."

"It's too bad. Wonder when they'll send us one that's functional."

"Well, they've all been functional… Just not perfect…"

"Only N08 can be considered functional," Hanai scoffed.

Nishihiro sighed. He would like Hanai more if he wasn't so harsh sometimes. He didn't need to be so distant from the bio-humans. Did he?

They each swiped into the building and donned their lab coats. Suyama and Sakaeguchi, their lab assistants, were watching the monitors that were spitting out data on two boys on treadmills.

Izumi Kousuke, N08, and Mizutani Fumiki, N07.

"Good morning," Nishihiro greeted them politely.

"Good morning, Dr. Nishihiro," the answered in unison, Mizutani's voice cheerful and Izumi's a bored drawl.

"How does everything look today?" he asked Suyama.

"Not much change with these two, but there is progress on a certain project you and Dr. Hanai are particularly invested in."

Hanai was at Nishihiro's side in an instant. "N05?"

"N05. He seems close to being ready to leave incubation. Early tomorrow morning at the latest, but realistically it'll probably be late tonight."

"We'll stay," Hanai said quickly. "Nishihiro—"

"Right," Nishihiro interrupted, and they pushed through the door into a long hallway, toward the end of which was the room in which N05 was currently suspended in fluid.

Hanai's excitement was barely contained; his hands were shaking as they pulled open the door to N05's room. Nishihiro couldn't blame him; N05 was, currently, their best bet at a perfect model.

Despite the fact that he was, admittedly, rather short—he had reached adulthood without passing 170 centimeters—N05 was strong, and highly intelligent from what his brainwave patterns suggested. Haruna, M10, had been too, and that was worrying; M10 had been as excellent a candidate as N05, moreso even—he had a larger build—but they weren't looking for violent models. N05 had to be obedient and, most importantly, even-tempered if he was going to be a success.

Hanai was already checking N05's stats to confirm Suyama's earlier assessment that it was ready for "birth." Sure enough, Hanai gave him a thumbs up and a rare grin a moment later. "He was right. Forget tonight, it should be within the next few hours."

"That sounds about right..." Hanai's hand lingered over the button that would drain the viscous cobalt liquid.

"I think Suyama was right. You two are too invested in this. Wait until tonight." Abe was leaning against the doorframe.

"What do you know?" Hanai grumbled.

"I checked it when we first came in instead of going to see Suyama and Sakaeguchi. Mihashi's worried about him."

"What's N01's attachment to him?" Hanai asked.

"Not sure." Abe shrugged.

"When do you think, Abe-kun?"

"Wait until tonight." Abe turned with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Nishihiro's and Hanai's shoulders slumped.

"I guess... I guess it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Yeah, we don't want another N01 or 07 on our hands."

"But we can't leave him in too long either, you know that's why Haruna..."

"Hmm..." Hanai nodded. "I guess we should get to work then. There's still the reports on M10 to complete and file, Hamada should be here with another shipment this afternoon, and Oki and Shinooka will be here soon too."

"Right."

—

Hanai tapped his fingers impatiently on his desk. Other employees were trickling out, having finished their work for the day; Hanai himself had been done for the last half hour, and while he had been relatively fine for most of the day because he had various odd jobs to distract him, his patience was wearing thin. He still had an hour before Abe deemed it appropriate to release N05.

Hanai had to admit that it _was_ better this way; it was less risky to leave him in just a little bit longer than necessary than to take him out too early. N05 was an exemplary bio-human; they absolutely could not risk a screw-up at this stage.

So he would wait, minutely comforted by the fact that Nishihiro seemed to be just as antsy as Hanai himself was.

"Geez, Hanai, try a little enthusiasm," Abe said sarcastically. "Seriously. Just what is it about this one that's got you so worked up?"

"What is it about N01 that's got _you_ so worked up?" Hanai shot back. "N05 could be a breakthrough. The next M10, without the tendency to malfunction. What we've been working toward for _years._ And I don't know about you, but I'm sick of manufacturing people for the sake of—science, the war effort, whatever the rumor is these days. If N05 is the one, we can all get out of here. How are you _not worked up?"_

"Not everyone is quite as eager as you to leave, you know." Abe's face took on a rather wistful expression. "Some of us are happy to stay as long as we can."

"Some of us are too attached to the projects. _You_ don't want to leave because you don't want to lose N01."

"Mihashi," Abe corrected automatically. "And don't confuse me with Akimaru."

"Shouldn't I?" Hanai waited for Abe to answer; when he didn't, Hanai continued, "Why are you still here, anyway?"

"Look around, Hanai. Twice as many people are here than normally are at this time. They're all waiting for N05's release."

Hanai felt a stab of annoyance. N05 was _his_ project. His and Nishihiro's. Besides, they didn't need a ton of people around when N05 came out—it might confuse him, frighten him.

Apparently his apprehension showed on his face, because Abe said, "No worries. They aren't quite deluded enough to think they'd be allowed in the room. Everyone who doesn't absolutely need to be there—that is, you, Nishihiro, and Director Momoe—will be safely behind a one-way mirror."

"...Good." Hanai caught himself drumming anxiously again. "What time is it?"

Abe checked his watch. "Seven-fifteen. Another forty-five minutes."

Hanai glared at him. "Go home to your puppy. I'm sure he's trashed your apartment by now."

"He's not a—" Abe stopped, his face pale. "Stop being an ass. See ya tomorrow."

Hanai sniggered. Making Abe uncomfortable always put him in a better mood, though he was sure that the man's apartment _was_ a mess. He almost wished he could see Abe's reaction when he walked inside, but N05 was more important.

There went the good mood.

He tapped a pen against the desktop impatiently.

Nishihiro stepped up to his desk then. "Want to go get something to eat before it's time?"

"Yeah, maybe it'll take my mind off of it."

"Exactly." Nishihiro's friendly smile made him feel better about being so antsy.

They sat down at a small corner table in the building's nearly deserted cafeteria. Suyama and Sakaeguchi were having coffee on the other side of the room. Nishihiro gave Hanai a small smile and nodded at their assistants. They'd watched them dance around each other awkwardly for months now, and from the heavy blush on both of their cheeks it seemed that they were finally getting around that awkwardness.

"They need to be careful. Who knows what these guys thinks of dating in the workplace." Hanai glanced at one of the many security cameras used by their bosses to monitor them.

Nishihiro nodded and bit into his sandwich. He missed real food. They all did. The stuff in the cafeterias and vending machines wasn't bad, but they didn't often get homemade food anymore, unless Dr. Oki's nurse, Shinooka, brought them something.

"You think he'll be the one?" Hanai asked.

"I hope so... But if he is, what then?"

"What do you mean, what then?"

"I mean, will they take him away after we finish our testing here? That's what they do with the ones that never... live."

"Who knows. They haven't asked for N07, 08 or 01, as long was we continue to send them daily reports."

They ate in silence for a minute.

"What do you think he'll be like?" Nishihiro asked.

"Hopefully he'll be obedient, and a quick learner, and strong."

Nishihiro nodded. "He'll need a haircut when he gets out."

"Definitely."

"Are we going to put him in with Mizutani and Izumi for tonight?"

"I guess."

"I wonder f they're sleeping or not yet..."

"We could always ask Suyama and Sa-"

"I don't think we should interrupt them." Nishihiro glanced at the boys who were now standing, Suyama putting a hand on Sakaeguchi's lower back to guide him around another table.

"Right."

"He could always stay with us for tonight."

"No way," Hanai protested. "He's going to be N01's bunkmate when he gets back from Abe's. We can't let him stay with us."

"I guess you're right. I just don't think it's a good idea to leave him alone for the night in a strange place."

"He's been here for six months."

"Unconscious in a locked vat of liquid. He's not familiar with the lab; to him it's a strange place, no matter how long he's been here. You know how they are when they first come out—disoriented, clumsy. I don't want him stomping through the lab breaking things because he doesn't know what's going on."

"Good point." Hanai went quiet for a moment, thinking. "Well, I suppose we could stay for the night with him, if you don't mind. Go home early morning when the others start coming in to shower, take a nap, come back around noon. The Director would understand."

Nishihiro shrugged. "Or we could do it in shifts so we can both be here on time tomorrow _and_ have him on constant watch. You stay with him for the first half of the night, I'll come back around three or four and you can go home."

"Actually, that's a lot better than my idea. I don't want to leave him alone either—not this one." Hanai glanced at his watch. "Ten minutes. Let's get going."

They dumped their trash into a receptacle and hurried back down the halls to N05's room, where a crowd of observers was growing steadily. Hanai shot them a glare and firmly shut the door behind himself when he and Nishihiro were both inside. Director Momoe was already there, standing near the incubation machine, taking notes on a clipboard. She looked up.

"Hello, boys. Ready for this?"

They both nodded vigorously.

"Who wants to do the honors?"

Hanai and Nishihiro looked at each other. "You were on this before me," Nishihiro pointed out. "Go ahead."

Looking rather guilty but nodding anyway, Hanai raised his hand to the button that would drain the fluid and pressed it with a trembling finger.


	2. Research

A/N: Hello again! We…. May or may not have forgotten we had this posted here. It's technically a kink meme fill. If any of you guys are from the meme. We will finish it. We swear. —Scarlet

Disclaimer: Not ours, not making money.

Chapter 2: Research

N05 slowly lowered to the bottom of the tubular tank as the liquid drained. Hanai keyed in the code to unlock the hatch. There was a hiss of suction and the tube was open to them.

"Go on. Take off the mask and tubes and junk. I know you want to." Momoe smirked.

Hanai looked at Nishihiro. "Help me get him out."

Together they lifted the young man from the tube and placed him on a gurney they pulled from the other side of the room. First they removed the cords wired to his hands, right arm, head, and neck. Hanai pulled the plugs to keep fluid out from N05's ears, and then Hanai let Nishihiro take off the oxygen mask over the lower half of the freckled boy's face. N05 choked at the difference in air, waking him up instantly.

"Hey there." Momoe smiled at the boy.

N05 looked up at her, visibly forming the words in his head before he said them. "You've got big breasts."

Momoe laughed at that. "I like this one."

N05 blinked. "Who're you guys?"

Hanai looked at the blushing scientist next to him and cleared his throat. "I'm Dr. Hanai Azusa. I'll be taking care of you."

Nishihiro's cheeks stayed red as he stepped forward. "A-and I'm Dr. Nishihiro Shintarou. I'll be taking care of you as well."

N05 grinned broadly. "I think I could get used to that."Hanai groaned mentally. Haruna had been flirty, but this was ridiculous. Instead of replying to N05's comment, he went on examining the young man, taking one arm in hand and bending it so it crooked at the elbow. "Are your joints achy at all?""Sorta." N05 swung his legs experimentally. "I feel kinda stiff and... like I don't have control over myself.""That's normal. You've been asleep for quite a long while—you haven't been using your arms or legs.""Yeah... so, does this mean the tests and everything were successful?"Hanai almost shifted uncomfortably but caught himself. "We don't know yet. There is, as you were previously informed, a six-month observation period during which we'll test the margin of improvement in your strength, intelligence level, etc. You'll be required to stay here, and you've already signed a non-disclosure agreement stating that you'll forgo all contact with the outside world until that period is up and you're able to leave."N05 nodded along, and Hanai wondered if he was even half-listening. Probably ogling the director's chest again. "Just to assert that you haven't suffered any memory loss," Nishihiro cut in, "we'll ask you a series of questions. Your name?""Tajima Yuuichirou.""Age?""Twenty-five.""Hometown?""Saitama.""Date of birth?""October 16."As Nishihiro continued to question N05, or Tajima, the human name they'd assigned him, Hanai gave him a standard physical."What, no prostate exam?" Tajima said with a grin as he stepped off the figured the bio-human's perverted sense of humor would calm down if he just went with it. "Maybe later, if you're good."

Nishihiro stumbled as he walked over the intercom to ask Sakaeguchi and Suyama, behind the two-way mirror, to make sure there wasn't anyone in the laboratory's small shower room and to procure some clothes for the young man. droplets of the blue liquid still clung to his skin and hair, and, if Mizutani and Izumi were reliable, the stuff was awful to remove from skin once it dried.

"Any chance I can get a haircut somewhere in this joint?" Tajima inspected a lock of his dark hair. "I look like a chick."

Hanai snorted. "Hardly."

"I'm going to go tell the bosses that N05 has successfully emerged. You—" she directed the man to a collapsible wheelchair— "sit. You need a shower. Dr. Hanai and Dr. Nishihiro will escort you there, but you've got clean yourself. Got it?"

"Roger." He saluted the busty woman as she left and slipped off the gurney and into the wheelchair with ease.

"This is you with no control of your limbs?" Nishihiro smiled with a small shake of laughter. N05 shrugged.

They wheeled him to the building's small locker room and let him clean himself in relative privacy. They waited in the lockers, with the grey sweatsuit embossed with "Nishiura Research Facilities N05" on the front that their assistants had brought them.

Tajima slipped it on and plopped down into the wheelchair again. "Am I always gonna get pushed around in a wheelchair?"

"No, just for tonight, and maybe tomorrow if you don't have full control of your body yet." Nishihiro stopped in front of the room that was to be shared by N01 and N05 and swiped his key card to enter.

"I think you'll be fine by tomorrow," Hanai said. "We're going to be staying here with you for tonight since your bunkmate's not here. I suggest you take the top bunk."

"Why?" Tajima inspected the little monitor attached to one of the bedposts.

"Mihashi's a little uncoordinated." Nishihiro tapped a few things on the monitor and held out an oximeter for Tajima to clip onto his finger. "Measures your pulse," he explained quickly. He attached electrodes to Tajima's temples and let him get settled into bed. "When do you want to switch?"

"It's almost ten, so three sound good to you?"

Nishihiro nodded. "Night, Hanai. Goodnight, Tajima-kun...""Night," Tajima replied, yawning, and was asleep in minutes. When Nishihiro left, Hanai was settled in a chair at Tajima's bedside, one leg crossed over the other, a book open in his lap. Nishihiro didn't know how he could concentrate; his own mind kept traveling back to Tajima, N05, who, for all intents and purposes, had a past. A false one, sure, one implanted in his memory by the people who'd created him so he would be more apt to cooperate in the experiments, but a past nonetheless. Yet his creators didn't think of him as a person—if Tajima wasn't what they were looking for, if he didn't perform spectacularly on his tests, he would be disposed of. Like M10. Like N01 probably would be, if Abe didn't attempt to flee the country with hated being here. He hated that he'd agreed to come, only knowing he would be using his talents for a so-called good cause and earning barrels of money in the process. He worked as hard as he did simply because he wanted it to be over. It was how all of them felt, really. The excitement he and Hanai had felt when N05 was brought in, when they'd been told he was more promising than any model they'd tried so far, derived from one thought: _This might be the one that sends us home. _

But what if he was? Nishihiro sighed as he reset his alarm clock and situated himself in the bed. Would they actually be going home, now that they knew what their employers were after? And if he wasn't, how much longer would they be stuck here? What of N07 and 08, or for that matter N01, would they be disposed of if N05 was the one?

Nishihiro was startled out of his thoughts by a sharp rap on the wall behind him, the wall that connected their apartment to Abe and Akimaru's, the wall that connected his room to Abe's. What on earth was the man doing up still? He'd left work hours ago. There was another knock and Nishihiro sat up, pressing his ear to the wall. Then his eyes widened. There was no… absolutely no way that Abe was doing that with Mihashi! He flushed. Then again. None of the bio-humans were unattractive... He groaned as his brain supplied him with images of Tajima washing himself earlier that evening. What had at the time seemed very procedural was now very sexual.

"I'm never getting to sleep tonight!"

And he didn't. Hanai even commented on it when the he switch places with him in Tajima's small room."Don't ask," Nishihiro said tiredly. "...You'll find out when you go home anyway."Hanai raised an eyebrow. "Is something up with Abe and N01?"Something was up, all right. "You'll see. Or hear, I guess."A confused blink, and then Hanai made a face. "That is... against the rules.""...Yes. Well. Tell that to Abe.""I think I'll wait to do that until morning." Hanai gave a frustrated sigh. "He knows better than this. If anyone found out—""He doesn't exactly have a reason to expect that anyone would," Nishihiro said reasonably. "Akimaru's in the hospital right now. They weren't being especially loud, but... thin walls. And even if he considered that we might realize, I presume he trusts us not to tell anyone." Nishihiro eyed Hanai warily. "Would you tell?""Not my business. I do want to talk to him, make sure he understands the risks he's taking, but as long as I'm not at risk of disciplinary action, I won't try to stop him, and I definitely won't report it." Hanai ruffled Nishihiro's hair briefly. "Sorry you didn't get any sleep. I can stay and we can take naps in shifts, if you want.""No, no, that's okay." Nishihiro smiled gratefully. "Go home, I'm fine here. You need a shower."Hanai flicked his forehead in playful indignation and took his leave.

Nishihiro eyed the empty bottom bunk. The jagged lines on the monitor let him know Tajima was in a deep state of REM sleep. Maybe he could just...

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and set the alarm to go off in two hours. He wondered how he'd ever done this in college.

He set his tie, watch, phone, and wallet on the floor next to the bed and slipped his shoes off before laying down. There was shifting on the top bunk, making the young doctor hyperaware of who was above him.

He woke up two hours later when there was a loud thud. Tajima had been startled by the phone's alarm and had fallen off the bunk bed.

"Ow..." He rubbed his head.

Nishihiro was on his feet instantly. "Are you all right?"

Tajima nodded and yawned. "Yeah. The hell is it so loud?" He pointed at the phone.

Nishihiro grabbed the device and turned off the alarm. "Sorry."

"It's okay, man... Dr. Nishihiro, right?"

He nodded. "You still have a few more hours if you want to go back to sleep."

"Nah, I'm up now. What'm I gonna do today?"

"Well, we'll get you something to eat and then run a lot of tests to measure your physical capabilities to compare with other people's results. Dr. Oki and Shino'oka-san will be in later to give you a check up. You'll be introduced to a lot of people today too... I'm sure it'll be overwhelming."

"Can I get something done about this?" He pointed at his head. "It's never been this long before. I really don't like it."

"I'll have Suyama-kun and Sakaeguchi-kun look into it."

"Who?"

"They're our laboratory assistants. There's also Abe Takaya, who is another doctor. He's formed a battery with N01, Mihashi Ren—"

"Hold on, hold on. Battery, what the hell's that mean?"

"When we think a particular subject is going to have particularly promising results we assign them a specific doctor before they emerge. Abe and Mihashi have formed a battery."

"Mihashi's the guy I'm s'posed to be rooming with, right?"

"Yes... He actually wasn't scheduled to emerge until after you, but there was an incident with M10, Haruna Motoki, and he had to emerge early. It left him a little bit... timid and weak. He's currently at Abe's apartment."

"What'd M10 do that Mihashi had to be taken out?" Tajima looked at him curiously.

Nishihiro sat back in the chair Hanai had previously occupied, explaining that M10 hadn't emerged until several days after he was ready to and had become too strong for anyone to control. He had had a bit of a fit after a checkup one day that ended with Akimaru, the other half of his battery, being thrown against the incubation chamber Mihashi was in. The chamber had broken, Akimaru had to be taken to the hospital, Mihashi had to be removed immediately, and in the end they'd had to send M10 away.

"Whoa..." Tajima was looking up at Nishihiro. "So—"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"Well, I wasn't really informed of the details of what this whole project entailed before I was put under, so I'm curious. Plus it seems like there was some drama not too long before I came out. Are there any other... subjects, I guess? Besides Mihashi.""There are two in our block, N07, Mizutani Fumiki, and N08, Izumi Kousuke. The M-block had M10, Haruna, as well as Kaguyama—he didn't turn out so well. Ookawa is the head doctor over there. T-block has Dr. Kawai and the two subjects he observes, Rio and Junta. Then there's H-block, which is the only block bigger than ours—they have five subjects in right now: Hatake, Oda, Taguchi, Kadota, and Matsuota, and they're all supervised by Dr. Kanou. That's all we have right now, but so far, you've shown the most promise, of all the blocks."Tajima grinned. "Oh, yeah? What about me is so promising?"Nishihiro could tell Tajima was trying to take this down a perverted path again, so he tried to keep it professional. "After a lot of failed tries, we've finally figured out how to tell exactly when it's time for the subjects to emerge, so you were incubating just the right amount of time. You reacted well to the treatments while you were unconscious. With training and a lot of testing, the bosses upstairs have sent word that they think you could be the one.""For what?" Tajima combed a hand through his long, messy hair. "I mean, I know they told us it was just a research project, but they didn't tell us why they were researching it.""Your guess is as good as any of ours, honestly. There are always rumors, but we've never actually been told what it is. Our job is to counsel you through emergence and give you proper training; beyond that we aren't high enough in rank to be given any other information."Tajima frowned. "Seems weird to agree to something when you don't know what you're agreeing to.""I could say the same to you.""...True."Hanai came in then, slipping his arms through his white lab coat. "Good morning, Dr. Nishihiro, Tajima-san.""Morning!" Tajima said brightly."Ready for the fun to begin?""Strictly ready."


End file.
